PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Published this month, “The “ Building The Future We Need ” report from techUK - the UK’s leading technology membership organisation - sets out some of the digital challenges that Wales faces and how these can be addressed by the public and private sectors to benefit the economy over the next few years. According to the report, the information technology sector in Wales employs around 24,000 people and is predicted to add around £1.5 billion to the economy over the next five years. But despite this impact, there are considerable challenges for the nation in terms of maximising the potential of the digital economy.  In terms of digital infrastructure, residential superfast broadband coverage in Wales had reached 93% by 2019 with 4G data services at 58% for geographical coverage by all operators.  In addition, Superfast Cymru had provided almost 733,000 premises across Wales with access to fast fibre broadband and, as a result of this work, superfast broadband coverage has more t...

Last week, Superfast Cymru - the high-speed broadband infrastructure being developed by the Welsh Government and BT - announced that over 100,000 homes and businesses in Wales are expected to have access to high speed broadband by the end of 2013 as a direct result of the project. The significance of the rollout of this network should not be underestimated, especially given that a recent study from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) suggested that businesses in the so-called ‘digital economy’ comprise 14 per cent of all companies and 11 per cent of all jobs in the UK. In fact, whilst there is a temptation to consider digital businesses as being predominantly based within high technology industries, the increasing use of digital tools and platforms within other sectors means that the digital economy is widening its net every year. Yet despite the fact that the very nature of the digital industry means that businesses can flourish in any part of the c...

Last month saw the announcement of a new £425 million agreement between the Welsh Government and BT to deliver next generation broadband to 96 per cent of Welsh homes and businesses by 2015. This will result in 1.3 million Welsh premises gaining access to broadband speeds that are fifteen times faster than those available in Wales today.  It is a major investment from the public purse, with the Welsh and UK Government contributing around £120m with £90m being allocated from European funding coffers. The aim, if the project is given the green light by the European Commission, is to make Wales a global leader in fibre broadband and create around 2,500 jobs within the Welsh economy. Given that business organisations such as the CBI have been crying out for investment in infrastructure to help the Welsh economy, this state-of-the art investment certainly has enormous potential to make a real difference in attracting high value added businesses to Wales. It also has the potenti...

Ofcom have yesterday released a series of maps that show that homeowners and businesses in Wales have some of the slowest broadband speeds in the UK. Below are a series of digital communications coverage maps which show the state of the UK's broadband availability. The ranking for each category is colour coded. Overall broadband coverage Each area has been ranked on how they score on four broadband metrics, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 the highest or fastest, and 5 the lowest or slowest. The individual scores have been combined to provide an overall view of broadband in each area. Average broadband take-up Each area has been ranked from 1 to 5 on the number of broadband connections as a percentage of the total postal addresses in the area. 1= 80% or more 2= 70% - less than 80% 3= 60% - less than 70% 4= 50% - less than 60% 5= less than 50% Percentage receiving less than 2Mbit/s Each area has been ranked from 1 to 5 on the percentag...